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Topic: A single second (Read 1580 times)

For most of our lives, time seems monotonous. We get used to things, get into habit and feel a sameness. Sometimes we try to mix things up, travel, try new things to expand our lives. But sometimes a single event, even a single second, out of your control can shatter everything that made you comfortable. A car accident, meeting your future love, winning the lottery, getting a job offer. These can change everything we thought we knew.

What is a moment that had a profound change in your life and why?

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In the wasteland, the sly survive and the past and present are one, the sinners rot and the future is the ultimate purgatory

Getting a little Personal here, but my moment was at the end of high school/right after it.

There was of course a girl who was probably the first person to genuinely like me. In short I ended up messing up the whole thing and we went our own way. I felt sick and afterwards I became less capable of showing my emotions to people and became a bit of a robot.

This is pretty silly, but when I was 7 years old I went to one of those church carnivals, and they had that "guess the beans in the jar" game. I guessed either exactly or within 1 or 2 (although I think exactly) and won. For years after I thought I was psychic or something.

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In the wasteland, the sly survive and the past and present are one, the sinners rot and the future is the ultimate purgatory

Let's see, I'm 33 now. 16 years ago, at some dumb party, I met a lady. We, uhm. We acted like teenagers. We made love and we yelled at each other and she became determined to never speak to me again. I don't blame her.

A decade later, we encountered each other again.

Uhm. Some other stuff happened. For some reason, we're now together. Long story short, I am with a lady that I am pretty enthusiastic about, and we met each other 16 years ago for no reason. Just random chance. That being said said, as loathe as I am to admit that I have emotions, I don't know. I guess you can't deny them. Now, with her permission, 16 years later, I'll never fucking let her go.

So yeah. The first moment I saw my lady.

« Last Edit: November 03, 2017, 07:36:47 AM by Thanatos »

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I fall and I leap andI'm freaking outNowhere near my place and I Know that they've seen me now

There have been many but the real life altering, defining moments of my life have been when I've became a father, you realise from that point on life is about being equal to the amazing privilege and responsibility in your life, falling short of that can be soul crushing.

Let's see, I'm 33 now. 16 years ago, at some dumb party, I met a lady. We, uhm. We acted like teenagers. We made love and we yelled at each other and she became determined to never speak to me again. I don't blame her.

A decade later, we encountered each other again.

Uhm. Some other stuff happened. For some reason, we're now together. Long story short, I am with a lady that I am pretty enthusiastic about, and we met each other 16 years ago for no reason. Just random chance. That being said said, as loathe as I am to admit that I have emotions, I don't know. I guess you can't deny them. Now, with her permission, 16 years later, I'll never fucking let her go.

So yeah. The first moment I saw my lady.

Thanks again for stopping by and contributing Than. I wish I could randomly drop by, be the center of attention, and disappear again like you. If you see this, let us know how you encountered each other again because you are kind of a dick about giving up details.

Getting a little Personal here, but my moment was at the end of high school/right after it.

There was of course a girl who was probably the first person to genuinely like me. In short I ended up messing up the whole thing and we went our own way. I felt sick and afterwards I became less capable of showing my emotions to people and became a bit of a robot.

Thanks for sharing. I think almost every guy goes through that after highschool (at least I did), its a transitioning period for sure. In a few years though you'll probably kick yourself for getting hung up on it. At 26, I can't comprehend how some people get into relationships in high school and stay in them. Apparently some people do.

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Another short story. When I was 14, I was failing middle school. I just didn't understand or care about school. My mother sat down with me and cried hard because she wasn't sure what to do with me. That was the first time I realized that how I took care of myself could effect other people emotionally. I promised her I would improve, and I did. I ended being on honor roll through high school and college.

« Last Edit: November 04, 2017, 12:52:08 AM by KMD »

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In the wasteland, the sly survive and the past and present are one, the sinners rot and the future is the ultimate purgatory

Thanks again for stopping by and contributing Than. I wish I could randomly drop by, be the center of attention, and disappear again like you. If you see this, let us know how you encountered each other again because you are kind of a dick about giving up details.

Hahah, what? That is certainly not my intention! I mean, I always try to post in a way I think will be compelling and interesting, but . . . doesn't everyone? I mean, I certainly am a dick, no argument there, but I just stop by sometimes and try to say something worth reading!

As to how I met her again, uhm. A mutual friend of ours contacted me and asked if I wanted to go to a New Year's Eve party at the end of, uhm. Six years ago . . . 2011? After she said Christine was going to be there, I immediately said yes. Then, uh . . . I don't know how to express this exactly. I was extremely determined to get back together in a way that was not creepy or harassment. Like, y'all gotta believe me, I am woke, I am very aware that the behavior typically depicted as 'romantic' in romantic comedies is actually stalking, harassment, and worthy of prosecution. At the same time, sometimes you gotta put the work in.

So, at the New Year's Eve party (It was at the big-ass hotel at the National Harbor in Maryland, MR DETAILS) I was like, "Hey, Christine! We should get back together!" And she was like, "Good idea! Or, alternatively, you could go straight to hell!" And I was like "Fair enough! How about maybe we just see each other next week?" To which she said yes.

Then, a week later, I was like "Hey, Christine, we should get back together!" And she was like "Let me make a counter-proposal! Go fuck yourself!" And I was like "You raise a valid point! Let's discuss it further next week!" And she said yes.

So that went on for, I don't know, maybe three months? And then we kissed. I mean, more accurately we kissed again, but it was the first time in a decade, so I feel justified in the phrasing. So then we continued to see each other extremely frequently for months and months and months, which entailed me driving many, many, many miles, as we lived 120 miles away from each other at the time. I recognize that 120 miles doesn't seem that far, but you have to understand, there were many weeks where I came to see her twice, which meant making the drive four times. I had to press my case while simultaneously, you know, having a job and keeping myself alive.

Even once we started smooching, it probably took another year and a half before she would admit we were together. My lady got backbone.

Also: Just in case there are any literature nazis out there, I stand by my repeated us of the word 'like' above. I considered swapping it out for something more erudite, but the fact of the matter is that I can't remember the precise words used, and 'like' is the best way to say 'this is basically what was said but probably not the exact phrasing'. That's right: I think using 'like' like a valley girl has a valid linguistic justification.

« Last Edit: November 10, 2017, 05:44:37 AM by Thanatos »

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I fall and I leap andI'm freaking outNowhere near my place and I Know that they've seen me now

First was when my mother was diagnosed with both lung and breast cancer, very aggressive, with little hope of surviving them.

Second was when she died from acute pneumonia in hospital after fighting what had been looking like a winning battle against those cancers for several months.

And the third was when I found out that my long-standing girlfriend of 10 years had actually been lying to me about a great many things for all the time I'd known her. And these were not small lies, but rather ones of relationship-breaking proportions. So I broke up with her.

The fourth moment is...complicated, because it only occurred as a result of the loss of my mother, and it happened literally just a couple of days after I broke up with my gf. This moment was when I won the videomakers' competition for the game Elite Dangerous in May this year.

The brief for that competiton was to use the game's newly added camera suite to create a short story video (4mins or less). I was already very familiar with making Elite Dangerous story videos (I think by that time, my "Turjan's Travels" series had reached its 30th episode), but this was different - I felt I could take this opportunity to do something I never got the chance to do when my mother died : say goodbye to her.

So I wrote an narrative tale based on my mother's life, transposed it into the Elite Dangerous future galaxy, collected the footage I needed, edited it all together...and then very nearly didn't even submit the finished video for the competition at all. It was a deeply personal piece after all, and the main reason I made it was for me really. But a couple of my fellow videomaking friends encouraged me to enter it, and so I did, and it was chosen as the winner. And when I saw all the heartfelt comments the video received, and how watching it had caused a lot of viewers to contact their own mothers to say they loved them, I knew I'd made the right choice submitting the video after all. And I knew my mother would've been proud.

Of all the various artistic and creative endeavours I've turned my hand to over the years, I believe that this one video, "Stardust", stands as my best work. It was an ordeal to make of course, because I was forever fighting back tears as I edited it together, and even now I still can't watch it without my eyes blurring up.

But perhaps the saddest part of it all was that I couldn't share my pride at the success of that video with the two most important people in my life : my mother and my girlfriend. Because neither of them were actually a part of my life any more.

So winning that competition was very much a bittersweet experience. But then a lot of art is really, isn't it? The experience did reinforce my desire to keep making story videos though - I've always liked telling stories (as folk here in the UV know perhaps better than anyone else!) and I really like using video as the medium with which to tell those stories.